This letter appeared in the Indianapolis Daily Journal on November 13, 1863 on page 2 column 3. The spelling and punctuation are unchanged from the original publication.
From Chattanooga—The 79th Regiment.
Correspondence of the Daily Journal
Chattanooga, Nov. 3, 1863.
Mr. Editor: I will, with your permission, make a statement or two for the information of many friends at home, in relation to the 79th Regiment Indiana Volunteers.
On the 22d ult., after a very tedious and wearysome journey of some fourteen days from Indianapolis, I reached Chattanooga. I immediately reported at Colonel Knefler’s headquarters, and found the members of the command in very good health and spirits. The only thing to complain about, and that could not be helped, was short rations. The regiment numbers about 300 men, and they are tried and true men, as ever drew a sword or faced a musket. They fought hard and long at Chickamauga, and I feel fully warranted in saying, that the living and the dead of the 79th deserve well of their country. No regiment deserves more than this. If they have not seen hard service from almost the commencement of their term, no regiment has. Their present number is conclusive evidence of the labor they have performed. Indeed, the whole army of the Cumberland has been a hard working army. Any man that will look over the field of its operations for the last year, and notice what it has accomplished, will be satisfied of this.
If the State Sanitary agents could only get some potatoes, onions, and such like things, to us just now, they would be most thankfully received. No one at home can imagine how much we need such things at this juncture. We have nothing just now but hard bread, meat and coffee. We soon shall have an abundance of that, but a few good vegetables would greatly subserve both the health and comfort of the war worn soldiers. We do not want knick-knacks. We want plain, substantial vegetables and dried fruits. The largeness of the crop of fruit in Indiana this year warrants the expectation that we shall be remembered by the friends at home.
The rebels are shelling us, or rather at us, from the top of Lookout Mountain. What they have done so far amounts to nothing.—We shall certainly hold the position, at all hazards. This is the unanimous determination of this army.
With great respect,
L. H. Jameson,
Chaplain, 79th Reg’t Ind. Vol.
|
